OUTFOXING THE FOX

There is a snug irresistibility to Rave’s book, a modesty and economy that give it an immediately comforting, small-town feeling. A young fox decides to skip school—“foxes are clever enough already”—to sleep late and make plans for supper: chicken fricassee. (Forget that you won’t hear another mention of school; it has served its purpose as an attention-getter.) He visits the local henhouse, where he is invited inside, these being polite chickens, only to find that they all have colds. The chickens explain they won’t make good eating, what with the colds and all, and that the fox should come another day. Clever chickens—they keep up the ruse until they can catch a bus to the warm south. Not to be outdone, the fox finds a sausage sandwich next to a napping hunter, and that’ll do in a pinch. The author keeps everything lighthearted, and her boldly outlined illustrations work on readers like a charm, from their sophisticated colors to their strong narrative flow to the strange hen that busily whitewashes part of each page to show off the text against a bright backdrop. (Picture book. 5-8)